Aviation Call Signs -- the story behind them

Anyone who has seen the movie Top Gun will know that "Maverick" and "Ice Man" were the radio call signs of the two protagonists. What you might not know is that when the move was released in 1986, there was a serious problem at one Air Force base when more than one third of the new airmen adopted Maverick as their call sign. This and other facinating nuggets are here at Call Signs: There is a preamble including the transcript of an order and how the order was routed. We are introduced to a Lt. Col. Hallowell James and there are a few paragraphs about the various airplanes for the branches of service. A paragraph excerpted:

As a rule, Air Force pilots are not the same breed of fighter pilots as seen in the movies. Their role was to concentrate on all aircraft; on larger bombers and transport planes, in addition to jet fighters. On the other hand, Naval aviators were legendary for their swagger and testosterone saturated adventures that all come with being a fighter pilot. Most of the Naval and Marine Aviators used their assigned call signs, instead of their real names, to refer to each other, especially on assignment or at social situations. Hallowell thought it somewhat stupid that call signs were used in lieu of formal names and ranks but since most Air Force pilots didn�t use them outside the cockpit, he viewed it as an odd little idiosyncrasy of most carrier-based fighter pilots.

The order is an attempt to "clean up" some of the call signs (this was also around the time of the Tailhook scandal) and refers specifically to:

1. SUSPECT CALLSIGNS ARE DEFINED AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE EXISTING DEFINITIONS, ANY CALLSIGNS THAT IMPLY GENDER SPECIFIC PROWESS, GASTRONOMICAL EXPERTISE, PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT OR DYSFUNCTION, SUSPECT FAMILY GENECOLOGY OR HERITAGE /ACTUAL OR ESTIMATED/.

The order also sets up a commission headed by "LT.COL HALLOWELL JAMES". Unfortunately:

This order was distributed through the Armed Services but ironically, the copy that was sent to Lt. Col. Hallowell James was misrouted to a Lt. James Hallowell based in Anchorage and the original recipient never saw it for three days.

Needless to say, I am far from the end of this wonderful story and it gets better and better and better. If you have any interest in the Military or Aviation, go there and check it out. The story was written by Jeffrey Clyde Sears -- his main website is here and the above article was filed under the Short Stories section here. Good stuff!